Throughout the life of a spacecraft, attitude modifications are made to carry out mission objectives, to determine orientation, and to correct for undesired torques. In order to minimize expendable fuel in slewing maneuvers, reaction wheel systems are used to transfer rotational momentum to and from the satellite body.
Current techniques for attitude control use predetermined slew directions, slew rates, or both, or try to minimize the slew angle. These techniques do not take into account the amount of stored momentum in determining slew direction and rate.